The Narendra Modi government has announced that it was scrapping the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) project, the prestigious scheme envisaged during the regime of late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy to make Hyderabad as an international IT hub.
Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced in the Parliament that ITIR project for Hyderabad was scrapped.
The ITIR project was proposed by the Centre in 2008 due to intense lobbying by the YSR government. After YSR’s death in 2009, too, the Centre continued with the proposal and finally approved it in 2013.
But after the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014, it did not pay any attention to the project, despite repeated reminders by the KCR government. Finally, the BJP government shelved the project just like few other projects assured as per AP Reorganisation Act.
Taking serious objection to Central Government’s decision to scrap the ITIR project for Hyderabad, state IT Minister KT Rama Rao said the BJP Government was indulging in cheap politics.
He demanded that the BJP Government tender apologises to the youth of Telangana for failing to deliver on the promises.
The BJP has no proper policy for skill development and job creation in the country.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi should explain the loss incurred by Hyderabad due to scrapping of the ITIR project,” he demanded.
Coming down heavily on the Central Government for claiming to have sanctioned other projects, which were on par to compensate the ITIR Project, the IT Minister said the BJP Government had cheated the people of the country yet again.
“It is in the BJP party’s DNA to easily lie about anything and MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar has effortlessly done the same now” said KT Rama Rao in a statement here on Friday.
The Minister stated that BJP Government had scrapped the ITIR project because the TRS was politically opposing the Centre. They are indulging in cheap politics, he slammed.
Due to the scrapping of ITIR project, Telangana IT sector had lost a great opportunity to grow further, he said, adding “There’s no contribution from Central Government in the tremendous growth of IT sector in Hyderabad”
The Minister mentioned that along with Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, he had personally made multiple requests to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other union Ministers during their every visit to New Delhi. There was no positive response even after continuous persuasion from Telangana, he said.
Withstanding the adverse economic conditions forced on the country due to thoughtless, unwise decisions of demonetization, lockdown and overall policy paralysis, Telangana’s IT sector had registered a higher growth rate than India’s total IT growth, he said.
Telangana’s IT ecosystem would have grown leaps and bounds had the ITIR been implemented, Rama Rao said, ridiculing the BJP Government for claiming to have scrapped a project dedicated for IT Sector development in lieu of other non-IT Projects.